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Post by Mr Stabby on Aug 13, 2018 18:50:15 GMT
I got moaned at today by the skipper of a yoghurt pot who was operating a lock on the upper Thames while the lock-keeper was on his lunch break. I arrived at the lock just as he was opening the gates and so I went in. He bellyached at me and told me I was in breach of "etiquette" as he was at the lock first. I said to him "Are you new to this?" and told him that when a steel boat and a plastic boat share a lock, then the steel boat should go in first, and the plastic boat should go out first, which has always been my understanding, in order to minimise the risk of damage to the plastic boat.
Am I correct in this?
He didn't help the situation by then opening the sluices before I had even tied up at the bow, let alone the stern. I don't know if he had the hump and was trying to "get one over on me" by doing this, because I did talk to him as if he was a total bell end but as I pointed out to him, if my boat was thrown over and hit his boat because it wasn't properly secured, it would be his boat that would be sitting in the bottom of the lock in a thousand pieces five seconds later, not mine, and if this had happened because he had opened the sluices before I was properly secured, then my insurance company would be telling him to go do one.
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Post by thebfg on Aug 13, 2018 19:02:50 GMT
seems sensible to me.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2018 19:03:30 GMT
Spot on Mr Stabby. The other advantage of your system is getting a GRP boat out first means we don't have to crawl along behind the sewer tube Sounds like you had a right Tit on your hands. I wonder if he has friends at the Ouse Valley River Club?
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Post by Telemachus on Aug 13, 2018 19:15:01 GMT
I got moaned at today by the skipper of a yoghurt pot who was operating a lock on the upper Thames while the lock-keeper was on his lunch break. I arrived at the lock just as he was opening the gates and so I went in. He bellyached at me and told me I was in breach of "etiquette" as he was at the lock first. I said to him "Are you new to this?" and told him that when a steel boat and a plastic boat share a lock, then the steel boat should go in first, and the plastic boat should go out first, which has always been my understanding, in order to minimise the risk of damage to the plastic boat. Am I correct in this? He didn't help the situation by then opening the sluices before I had even tied up at the bow, let alone the stern. I don't know if he had the hump and was trying to "get one over on me" by doing this, because I did talk to him as if he was a total bell end but as I pointed out to him, if my boat was thrown over and hit his boat because it wasn't properly secured, it would be his boat that would be sitting in the bottom of the lock in a thousand pieces five seconds later, not mine, and if this had happened because he had opened the sluices before I was properly secured, then my insurance company would be telling him to go do one. I’d say you were entirely correct and the other chap was a fool. Plenty of ’em around on the Thames.
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Post by naughtyfox on Aug 13, 2018 19:26:02 GMT
Why didn't you take a photo of him and slap it up on Cretins' Corner?
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Post by TonyDunkley on Aug 13, 2018 19:42:15 GMT
I got moaned at today by the skipper of a yoghurt pot who was operating a lock on the upper Thames while the lock-keeper was on his lunch break. I arrived at the lock just as he was opening the gates and so I went in. He bellyached at me and told me I was in breach of "etiquette" as he was at the lock first. I said to him "Are you new to this?" and told him that when a steel boat and a plastic boat share a lock, then the steel boat should go in first, and the plastic boat should go out first, which has always been my understanding, in order to minimise the risk of damage to the plastic boat. Am I correct in this? He didn't help the situation by then opening the sluices before I had even tied up at the bow, let alone the stern. I don't know if he had the hump and was trying to "get one over on me" by doing this, because I did talk to him as if he was a total bell end but as I pointed out to him, if my boat was thrown over and hit his boat because it wasn't properly secured, it would be his boat that would be sitting in the bottom of the lock in a thousand pieces five seconds later, not mine, and if this had happened because he had opened the sluices before I was properly secured, then my insurance company would be telling him to go do one. No argument about the order in which it's usually sensible for GRP and steel boats to enter and exit when sharing a lock, but this does beg the question of why you still hadn't managed to get any lines ashore by the time this GRP boat had got into the lock behind you, and presumably got it's own lines ashore, and the bottom gates had been shut behind it ?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2018 19:45:07 GMT
I can think of a couple of occasions when I've had a stroppy knob on a Narrow boat get worked up about sharing with us. One was at E L T O N Lock, arrived traveling downstream on the little Mayland to find a full lock and a Narrow boat on the short landing stage, I hovered mid river and gestured for them to go in. Lots of head shaking and worried looks from the folks on the boat and lockside. Getting fed up with waiting I shouted over for them to go in first and we would sort ourselves out once they were roped up. 'No' comes the reply, 'steel doesn't share with GRP' It bloody well does on my river matey! Buggered if I was going to waste 45mins at each lock behind these clowns! 'I'll have to check with my captain' Captain??!!! Loving fuck! Captain decides he can't cope with the unfolding situation so let's us have the lock they just filled all to ourselves - result! Never saw them again Another time we were coming upstream to Warmington lock, 58' narrow boat in the lock, decrepit old geezer and his Mrs onboard, the deepest and most difficult to operate manual lock on the river. They hadn't gone far enough forward for us to get in - Nene locks are nominally 85' x 15' we can squeeze in behind as long as the sewer tube goes tight to the upstream vee gates and we stay well back onto the downstream guillotine gate. We've shared with loads of <58' boats - chief of which is Sammy the local hire boat who's crew may not be as polished as you'd like! As long as everyone pays attention and only one paddle is opened on the same side as the narrow boat it's easy peasy with no risk to anyone. Grumpy old fucker says 'there's no room we are full length' My arse that's no longer than 58' budge up. 'I can't, it's not safe' Rubbish!! Shift along, we've shared with boats your size before. At 27' x 9' 6" we have to stay at the back and let the narrow boat leave first but it's no problem tbh. 'but you'll be in the yellow zone' For those not familiar with our locks there are areas painted yellow at each set of gates. You'd do well to cill a boat in a Nene lock on the upstream vee gate end, most are well submerged, a couple are visible and as the locks are left empty it's easy to know which ones you can squeeze in and which ones you can't. The downstream end has the yellow area to prevent bows getting hooked up on the guillotine gate when emptying the lock. Travelling upstream you must have enough depth In that area or you wouldn't get into the lock pen. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine, just shift up, stay on your boat and leave the hard work to me. Eventually Grumpy old git did as he was told. Lock filled, Grumpy sets off for the next manual lock at Perio Mill leaving us to empty the lock. A quick chat with Mrs Gazza and we decided to sack it at Fotheringhay, fill the water tank and have some lunch so they miserable old sod could get some distance between us - I couldn't be arsed with more of the same the rest of the afternoon. Eventually we set off, arriving at Perio just as Grumpy git is exiting the lock. I goes up to empty the lock for them. 'where did you get to? We've been waiting a while for you' Cheeky old bastard had worked out it was safe to share and he'd have to do fuck all for the rest of the day. Shame his attitude was so shit to start with, I'd have been more than happy to help them out if he hadn't been so difficult! I told him we'd stopped for water and lunch and were about to walk the dog, he buggered off loosing his labour for the day!
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Post by Mr Stabby on Aug 13, 2018 19:54:30 GMT
I had the centre line around a bollard, another member of his crew had closed the tail gate and I was on the lock staircase taking the bow line up when he opened the sluices. Being single-handed I wasn't working the lock as quickly as I would with crew, but I wasn't working unduly slowly. As the controls were at the head gates, virtually opposite the bollard I was going to tie up to, there was no question of him being unsighted.
It didn't upset me, which was possibly his intention, because as said earlier had my boat been thrown sideways into his boat then there was only ever going to be one winner in that scenario.
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Post by naughtyfox on Aug 13, 2018 20:00:40 GMT
One for Tony Dunkley:
Last Tuesday morning I took our boat by myself down Filance Lock to fill up with water. Turned round and approached lock to go back up. No water leaking from gates so I thought maybe I could nose them open. Put front of boat gently to V of gates but no action in forward gear with no power so I ran up steps, opened the paddle and tried gate - it opened. And then the stupid boat started chugging in by itself 'cos I had left it in forward gear!!! I should have stuck it in neutral.
It's a deep lock and too far down to jump onto roof of boat. The only ladder is at the top end so I climbed down that, waited patiently for the fucker to chug-chug-chug towards me - and smash into the front wall/cill-thingy! I stepped onto the front edge of the roof, ran along the roof, sat on sliding hatch and quickly lowered myself onto the back deck, put it in neutral, waited for revs to die, put it in reverse and gave it a little welly - and it stopped before hitting the wall. Perfect timing - but only by luck.
A woman behind me waiting to go up the same lock came to help with the gates and paddles. I was already up the ladder again, and she said "You're obviously on your own and have done that before! That was a really neat trick!"
Sometimes it is best to accept awards.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2018 20:10:50 GMT
One for Tony Dunkley: Last Tuesday morning I took our boat by myself down Filance Lock to fill up with water. Turned round and approached lock to go back up. No water leaking from gates so I thought maybe I could nose them open. Put front of boat gently to V of gates but no action in forward gear with no power so I ran up steps, opened the paddle and tried gate - it opened. And then the stupid boat started chugging in by itself 'cos I had left it in forward gear!!! I should have stuck it in neutral. It's a deep lock and too far down to jump onto roof of boat. The only ladder is at the top end so I climbed down that, waited patiently for the fucker to chug-chug-chug towards me - and smash into the front wall/cill-thingy! I stepped onto the front edge of the roof, ran along the roof, sat on sliding hatch and quickly lowered myself onto the back deck, put it in neutral, waited for revs to die, put it in reverse and gave it a little welly - and it stopped before hitting the wall. Perfect timing - but only by luck. A woman behind me waiting to go up the same lock came to help with the gates and paddles. I was already up the ladder again, and she said "You're obviously on your own and have done that before! That was a really neat trick!" Sometimes it is best to accept awards. Gate Wrecker.
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Post by Mr Stabby on Aug 13, 2018 20:14:50 GMT
One for Tony Dunkley: Last Tuesday morning I took our boat by myself down Filance Lock to fill up with water. Turned round and approached lock to go back up. No water leaking from gates so I thought maybe I could nose them open. Put front of boat gently to V of gates but no action in forward gear with no power so I ran up steps, opened the paddle and tried gate - it opened. And then the stupid boat started chugging in by itself 'cos I had left it in forward gear!!! I should have stuck it in neutral. It's a deep lock and too far down to jump onto roof of boat. The only ladder is at the top end so I climbed down that, waited patiently for the fucker to chug-chug-chug towards me - and smash into the front wall/cill-thingy! I stepped onto the front edge of the roof, ran along the roof, sat on sliding hatch and quickly lowered myself onto the back deck, put it in neutral, waited for revs to die, put it in reverse and gave it a little welly - and it stopped before hitting the wall. Perfect timing - but only by luck. A woman behind me waiting to go up the same lock came to help with the gates and paddles. I was already up the ladder again, and she said "You're obviously on your own and have done that before! That was a really neat trick!" Sometimes it is best to accept awards. Gate Wrecker. I went through a stop lock recently and I read in my Pearson's guide that back in the day, the working boats would just ram the gate open if the lock was against them.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2018 20:19:56 GMT
I went through a stop lock recently and I read in my Pearson's guide that back in the day, the working boats would just ram the gate open if the lock was against them. When we were wee sprogs with weedy arms and legs mouse was known to give GU/Oxford lock gates a helping nudge open with the bows of a Lister SR3 powered Hancock and Lane sewer tube, this was the late 80's so perfectly acceptable behaviour back then. Just don't tell anyone
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Post by naughtyfox on Aug 13, 2018 20:40:20 GMT
Apart from me falling in the water whilst attempting to paint 'one last bit' on the black sides at the back, I don't remember us having any mishaps this trip. We did what we set out to achieve. Looking through photos this evening, I am fairly happy at how it all went, and our improvements to the boat.
I got to ring the bells at Mirfield (once), Gargrave (eleven times), Skipton (once), Settle (once), Penkridge (three times), and Stafford (once).
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Post by Mr Stabby on Aug 13, 2018 20:46:18 GMT
I got to create a clanging din at Mirfield (once), Gargrave (eleven times), Skipton (once), Settle (once), Penkridge (three times), and Stafford (once). Fixed that for you.
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Post by naughtyfox on Aug 13, 2018 20:50:06 GMT
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